Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, owned by The Walt Disney Company. The division is based at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, and is the main producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit. It took on its current name in 1983. Today, in conjunction with the other units of Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Pictures is classified as one of Hollywood's "Big Six" film studios.23 Films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios are also released under this brand. Pirates of the Caribbean is the studio's most successful franchise, with two of its sequels, released in 2006 and 2011, earning over $1 billion in worldwide box office gross.4 Background The studio's predecessor (and the modern-day The Walt Disney Company's as a whole) was founded as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, by filmmaker Walt Disneyand his business partner and brother, Roy, in 1923. The creation of Mickey Mouse and subsequent short films and merchandise generated revenue for the studio which was renamed as The Walt Disney Studio at the Hyperion Studio in 1926.5 In 1929, it was renamed again to Walt Disney Productions. The studio's streak of success continued in the 1930s, culminating with the 1937 release of the first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which becomes a huge financial success.6 With the profits from Snow White, Walt relocated to a third studio in Burbank, California.7 In the 1940s, Disney began experimenting with full-length live-action films, with the introduction of hybrid live action-animated films such as The Reluctant Dragon(1941) and Song of the South (1946).8 That same decade, the studio began producing nature documentaries with the release of Seal Island (1948), the first of the True-Life Adventures series and a subsequent Academy Award winner for Best Live-Action Short Film.910 Logo Until 1985, instead of a traditional production logo, the opening credits of Disney films used to feature a title card that read "Walt Disney Presents", and later, "Walt Disney Productions Presents". Beginning with the release of The Black Cauldron in 1985, Walt Disney Pictures introduced its fantasy castle logo.33 The logo was created by Walt Disney Feature Animation in traditional animation and featured a white Sleeping Beauty Castle design against a blue background, with the studio's name and underscored by "When You Wish Upon A Star".34 This logo and variations was seen before all films until 2006. In 2006, the logo was updated with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest at the behest of then-Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook and studio marketing president Oren Aviv.34 Designed by Disney animation director Mike Gabriel and producer Baker Bloodworth, the modernized logo was created completely in computer animation by Weta Digital and featured a redesigned 3D Waltograph typography. The final rendering of the logo was done by Cameron Smith and Cyrese Parrish.35 In addition, the revamped logo includes visual references to Pinocchio, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, and Cinderella, and its redesigned castle incorporates elements from both Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella Castle, as well as Walt Disney's family crest. Mark Mancina wrote a new composition and arrangement of "When You Wish Upon A Star" to accompany the 2006 logo.34 Beginning with the release of The Muppets in 2011, the words "Walt" and "Pictures" are dropped from the branding.36 Filmography Main article: List of Walt Disney Pictures films The studio's first live-action film was Treasure Island (1950). Animated films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar are also released by Walt Disney Pictures. The studio has released four films that have received an Academy Award for Best Picture nomination: Mary Poppins (1964), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Up(2009), and Toy Story 3 (2010).37 Highest-grossing filmsedit Walt Disney Pictures has produced four films that have grossed over $1 billion at the worldwide box office; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), and Beauty and the Beast (2017),1 as well as having released four animated films that have reached that milestone; Toy Story 3 (2010), Frozen (2013), Zootopia, and Finding Dory (both 2016). See Also: Walt Disney Pictures/Logo History Walt Disney Studios (division) Walt Disney Television Category:Stuff